It is the most famous speech in American history. Given by the most important president in our history, honoring the soldiers who died in the most decisive battle in the country’s history. Gettysburg is a special, even sacred place. I have great interest in history, particularly events that changed its course.
My wife and I took a trip to Gettysburg a couple of weeks ago. We had been there years ago when our sons were young. We had both read “Killer Angles” by Michael Sharaa and even re-watched the television movie “Gettysburg” a couple of days before our trip to reaquaint ourselves with the main players and events of the three day battle. This, in addition to having read many books on Lincoln and the Civil War.
It was beautiful day. We booked a two hour tour with a guide who drove us around the battlefield in our car. She knew her stuff. She took us through the battle almost hour by hour which was fought July 1st through July 3rd 1863. We learned how the Confederate army arrived in Gettysburg first and looted the town for supplies. How Union General John Buford arrived on June 30th and secured a high ground location. On the first day, the Confederates drove the Union forces back through the town to hills on the south of town.
On the critical second day, Confederate General Robert E. Lee launched an assault on the Union positions. We heard about the critical battles on Little Round Top, the Wheatfield, Devil’s Den, and the Peach Orchard as the Union managed to hold its lines. Finally, on day three Lee made the decision to attack the Union position in the middle where he thought there was a weakness. The result was the disastrous Pickett’s Charge. The Union held, and Lee retreated to Virginia. Our guide could tell us about when and where critical decisions were made down to the time of day, and where the commanders were at the time. She told us about specific troop movements, and even where people were when they were shot.
Four months after the battle on November 19th, President Lincoln was invited to make a few remarks at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery near the battlefield. We all know the two minute address that now lives in history. I asked at the information desk after our tour where Lincoln was standing when he gave the address. I was told it was over near the civilian Evergreen Cemetery which is next to the National Cemetery. But the person at the information desk said they didn’t know the exact spot. Puzzled, we drove over to the National Cemetery. There was a park ranger standing at the entrance. I asked him where Lincoln was standing when he gave the speech. He pointed to a grave on the other side of the fence in the Evergreen Cemetery that had a pole with an American flag attached to it. He said that was the grave of Jenny Wade. The only civilian and woman killed in the battle. She was struck by a bullet inside her home. He said the spot where Lincoln gave the address was somewhere between her grave and a monument on the National Cemetery side of the fence. No one knew the exact spot.
We walked over to the area. We looked around. We stood in the area between Jenny Wade’s grave and the monument. It was quiet. There was a woman sitting under a tree sketching. We saw the very small grave markers of the soldiers who gave the last full measure of devotion. But, I was disappointed. I went expecting to stand on, or at least, next to the spot where those beautiful words were spoken. How could we know the exact movements and locations of thousands of troops over three days of battle, and not know where the president of the United States was standing when he defined the greatest threat to the nation’s survival and what we owed the thousands who died for it.
I ask, how is this possible? As a journalist, I’m always in search of the facts. The Who, What, When, Where, and How. There were reporters there that day. The speech was re-printed in newspapers across the country. There were government and military officials there who, if nothing else, are known for being record keepers and generating paperwork. Of course, the significance of the speech grew over time. There are several different versions of the speech that have been preserved. The wooden lecture Lincoln used was recently used by Pope Francis when he spoke in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia.
No president has been written about more than Lincoln. Writers and journalist have reconstructed his life almost day by day. But the place of one of the most significant moments in his life has been lost in the mist of history. Should it matter? I believe all history matters. The smallest of facts compose the mosaic of events. Just as we know all the details that make up the history of those three bloody days of death in the summer heat.
There are many monuments at Gettysburg honoring the different units that fought there. There is a monument with the words of the Gettysburg Address near the area where it’s believed Lincoln gave he speech. We may never know where Lincoln was standing at that historic moment. Maybe we should just picture him standing in front of us all and never forget what those men did there, and what he said there.
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